


Anor'Tuasha

by BatsuGames



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: AU, Bombs, City Creating, Down with the Circles, Empire Building, F/M, Gen, MGiT, Magical chemistry, Modern Girl in Thedas, OC heavy, Overpowered characters, The spirits are your people, War, because all those god sims as a kid did a number on me, they're just on the other side
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-18 11:23:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16117385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatsuGames/pseuds/BatsuGames
Summary: Anor'Tuasha - The Flowering Home.'Chemist' Beatrice found herself in Thedas, wielding magic. Then she found herself in the Circle of Kassel in Anderfels. She decides she doesn't like it.She really, really doesn't like it.The only obvious thing to do is to create a mage only city. Obviously.She'd have to be mad to do it. Good thing they called her the Madness Mage.(World Building like crazy. Mage Empire. Chemistry to magic at first and then less as Empire Building begins.)





	1. Bombs and Buildings

**Author's Note:**

> Because I read this,
> 
> https://www.newscientist.com/article/2119397-how-lsd-affects-the-brain-and-creates-its-trippy-effect/
> 
> I made this fic. 
> 
> And it barely even factors into it ^.^.

* * *

 

 

* * *

 

 

I jerk and jump back at the group surrounding me as magic rose in me as the earth changed its atomic structure to cycloaliphatic carboxylic acid and hexadecenoic acid and it became naphthenic acid and palmitic acid. Realising I’d need a fuel for this and a way to carry it, I put it into a slim gel-like ball with a divider in the middle. One side had these two and the other side had silver fulminate. It sucked my energy minutely to transform, but nothing concerning.

 

Earth enclosed me after I lunge the singular ball forward and I changed its structure to something that was highly hard and fixed, sucking myself underground in it.

 

Diamond.

 

The explosion rocks the place around me but doesn’t ruin my multiple protective sphere.

 

Pleased at the lack of sound, I let the barrier dissolve back to earth a good ten minutes later, and it’s moving the earth that is far more difficult that converting its structure, oddly enough. I look around the exploded area, where a forest once was, and now a huge crater is. Perhaps I overpowered it more than I should have… I rub my ear. “I’ll need practise.”

 

I wonder about it, if I can simply make it in other ways.

 

Then I shake my head and move along.

 

Napalm again later.

 

.

 

Circle they call it, having taken me when I slept, knocking me out by the back of my head.

 

I blink at the language I don’t know.

 

“Pardon?”                                                     

 

They stare at me.

 

I stare back.

 

Guy one in the knight outfit says something sternly. I cock my head. “What is it you just said to me? Do you understand this language?”

 

I get nothing in reply.

 

“Kannst du mich verstehen?” I ask again in German.

 

The woman at the desk, wielding some fancy stick, brightens up. “ _You speak the Anderfel language! Do you hail from there?_ ”

 

I shake my head. “ _I come from another land,_ ” I say, and reluctantly add in a lie, “ _Across the sea. What is this place?_ ”

 

“ _This is the Circle of Kassel. All mages are to be kept and looked after in Circles for the wellbeing of society, to learn to control their magic and how to fight against demons._ ” The older woman looked at me sharply. “ _You were found near an immense crater, clearly by the use of uncontrolled magic of yours-_ ”

 

“ _Not at all,_ ” I interrupt swiftly. “ _It was exactly as intended. These… monstrous things surrounded me, some sort of hellspawn. I blew them up._ ”

 

“ _With what?_ ”

 

“ _Magic, of course. Everything I did was controlled. As you can see, I do not need your lessons. So, I shall leave and find work-_ ”

 

The woman stands up, two knights by hers side gripping their swords and unsheathing them, but not for her protection I note, one looking at me and the other at her. “ _You cannot leave._ ”

 

“ _Excuse you? Why should be imprisoned here?_ ” I snap back, infuriated, ignoring whatever whispers were going on as my magic became unleashed, flickering around my in soft silky pink flickers. “ _This is your warning to back down before I explode you all and leave without any hindrance._ ” I shift my foot, allowing magic to flare into it, zoom over to them and convert into napalm to where they’d step on it and explode. I get a tiny piece of magically made napalm, shoving it to the window and point at the wall, only for it to explode outwards.

 

They freeze in alarm as I point at them and then down at their feet.

 

“ _One wrong step, gentlemen, and you shall not only be dead within seconds, but half of this building will collapse down and kill whoever is down below us. Let’s make a deal, woman._ ” I smile, and with a scowl, the leader of the Circle waves them down. They do so reluctantly, making me smile widely at their obvious agitation. “ _Instead of forcing my way out, I get to have all the lessons I want, as well as all the resources and lodging and food I want. I get to leave and return as by my whim. You can make up that I’m off to serve some noble or whatever. In return, not only do I let you live now, I shall pretend to be a good little mage. I am Beatrice._ ”

 

.

 

The lessons, over the next couple of years, were consisting of languages, of the history of this world, and of potential magics to use. One of the teachers tried to teach me to wield the fire, and I did indeed listen, but knowing the composition of fire, of being able to conjure it with sheer will of twisting the air around me into the form I wanted it to, I simply gave over the little fire statue I made, telling her to give it to one of the kids that wanted a nightlight and bid her a goodnight.

 

She stared at it, mumbling, “Not possible, how is it even working, I don’t understand…?!”

 

I nodded, putting a hand to her back and pushing her through the door and away from my private room that Clarice, the First Enchanter, gave me to keep my activities as unknown as possible.

 

The opposite happened of course.

 

Mages snuck up in the upcoming weeks multiple times – for I was just under the First Enchanter’s level – to ask me to help them with their magic.

 

Bored at reading my current book to practise my Antivan, I shrug and chuck it to the bed.

 

They widened their eyes in awe and clapped their hands when I showed them how I created a glass ball and had lightning held within it in a suspended state. Silica based, because the glass popped up from the ground where I’d grasped sand and made it into a glass ball. There was one time I was invited, during some university event, to go see a machine called Dynamitron. As much as it sounded like something out of science fiction, it truly was a humungous machine that was a particle accelerator that blasts electrons halfway through insulating sheets of all kinds and left a lovely shape of lightning called a Lichtenburg figure. An insulating sheet, such as acrylic. So, the inside of the ball was acrylic and held magical lightning suspended in it.

 

Now I had the lightning inside, just like my napalm balls, all I had to do was chuck them and voila!

 

Lightning bombs!

 

One asked for one, and I hummed, “Well, you’ll have to give me something in return. It is, after all, a very powerful explosive with magically created ingredients.”

 

Raul smiled at me. “I could always teach you to heal?” He said, as if idly, but at the little gasps from the others, it showed how rare it was. His ears twitched, the points a little red, but he made no further body language to show his unease.

 

“Alright. Yet you’ve seen my lightning balls and-” I gesture him over, opening the window as he comes up to my side. With a humungous chuck, I throw it to the sandy dunes that surrounded the Circle and we all watch as it falls to the ground and then slams apart, a huge semi-circle that glowed rose pink with bright bold salmon coloured lightning arcing through the whole thing, causing burst of sand to instantly transform into spikes of glass.

 

There’s a pause of silence.

 

The elf stares at it and then at me. A wicked grin lights his tattooed face up. “I’ll teach you all I know in return for a supply of those for when I escape, shem.”

 

“Shem?” I ask in reply, blinking.

 

“Ah…” He looked at me warily. “I apologize. Habit.”

 

“Okay? Never heard the term before is all.”

 

The others soon came over, whispering their deals, and soon enough, in return for my power-balls I suddenly gained a ton of secreted away training over the next few months. Which, in turn, had other mages come to me for training or to give over information that could help me. There was even a time that a Tranquil came to me.

 

Which brought along a whole new topic for me.

 

Chemicals were always my life. My father had been an English chemist and my mother a German pharmacist, so I knew so many structures of things as per sheer absorption from a young age. But whereas they were in love with creation of new drugs, I was rather enamoured with biology. I especially liked the brain and all the hormones and how they could affect it. When I found that magic was merely a force to be guided, that it needed a precision and clarity of mind and a will of diamond in not listening to demons, well, life truly was my oyster.

 

Especially when I learnt to literally twist people’s brain so they thought they hallucinated things. Kind of like a magical window pane of LSD. They thought and they saw and they heard what I wanted them to as I hit a serotonin receptor in the brain and made the receptors close around the LSD when it bound there. It’s what LSD already did, and I extended how long it stuck there in the serotonin 2B receptor. When I wanted it gone, I created kentanserin, a type of drug that block the 2A receptor, in them and locked it _in_ to the 2A receptor to block off the feelings of the drug.

 

And then I realised the mages… went Tranquil.

 

I’d gawked at them and then removed both the drugs and watched them suck in deep breaths in horror as they stared at me, chests heaving in fear.

 

“You can… the Tranquil they… Impossible… Impossible!” One elf mage choked and then backed away, running out of the room.

 

It was after that time that a Tranquil was subsequently thrown at me day after day, and I easily helped repair the damage, galvanising the appropriate anabolic hormones to help me heal the smashed 2A receptors of the Tranquil as I steadily pumped in healing magic. Each of the Tranquil reacted the same, crying, shrieking and laughing insanely as the realisations their emotions came back hit them hard.

 

So began my new life as the feared and admired Madness Mage.

 

.

 

The Grey Wardens gained wind of my abilities, but as the Blight had passed back in 9:30, a good five years ago and four years after I arrived here, they couldn’t simply take me and conscript me.

 

Instead, they wanted to hire me.

 

I raise a brow at them, amused. “Why the hell would I want to help you for pittance?”

 

“We offer you the ability to travel in the country for free, Senior Enchanter. Not many mages can say they get that,” Warden Horatio spoke, as if I were foolish to ignore such a thing.

 

“I _am_ one of those mages that do get to say that. Try again.”

 

The other Warden spoke up, throwing her companion a look and turning green eyes back on me. “We had not known of this.”

 

Unamused now, I begin to chuck one of my lightning balls from one hand to the other. “So you came with nothing to offer me? I’ve experiments and practise to get to, why are you wasting my time? This is your job, is it not? Clearly you either do not respect mages or respect your own damn duty enough if this is how prepared you come,” I insult on purpose. “You’ve seen my ability,” I nod to the outside world, where spikes of glass, “And heard of other things I do. But this is all you can come up with?”

 

“What is it you wish?”

 

“A base, a large plot of land all my own,” I instantly say, plans in my head. “No Templars or other groups to come along and take me or mine away for being mage. No taking it back whatsoever, a written seal from the King of this land for it, too. And I shall help you for a whole year.”

 

Warden Nancy narrowed her eyes at me. “How?”

 

“With my magic of course. From the start of our contract begins the year, on that very hour, until the end of it by the next. I belong to the Grey Wardens.”

 

Horatio narrows his brown eyes at me, cocking his head and making his blonde hair fall out of his vision. “We will be back.”

 

.

 

They weren’t kidding when they offered me a large portion of land…

 

In the middle of the deserted fucking desert.

 

It was about halfway between Kassel and Tallo’s eye and also about the same distance to the Colean Sea to the east. It wasn’t a small, tiny bit of land either. Because of the sheer nothingness available in the red earth littered with gigantic onyx boulders and mammoth obelisks, they could easily afford to give over what was essentially something the size of a small country when it had absolutely nothing on it. In fact, they’d actually promised something twice the size of Llomerryn, and frankly, I couldn’t complain, because it was far greater than I’d expected. It went down halfway between Hossberg and Kassel, though not touching any of the more fertile soil.

 

I looked at an unimpressed Raul, who’d become a close friend of mine, to Elliot, a Ferelden-born man of about thirty years that was a dab hand at earth element with a huge core and also to an older woman by the name of Leah, who was withered and rather grouchy, but knew her way around glyphs well and had been the daughter of a prominent architect. “Hey, don’t worry. I had a feeling they’d try and take advantage like this, which is why I have you three with me.”

 

“Oh? To what, admire the scenery?” Leah asked caustically.

 

“To help turn this around. First, Elliot and I will outline our given land on horseback with one of the Warden’s here,” I say to them and the two Warden’s with us. “You two will commence on making a glyph set that will cross my land and a majority of it all into fertile soil. I plan on having half the land be for food and herb growing, so a quarter of that half will remain red earth to grow local herbs and flora here.”

 

“Impossible!” The woman sniffed. “Otherwise we’d have been charged to do this long ago!”

 

“Has anyone actually tried?”

 

There was an awkward silence.

 

The earth mage broke it with an, “It will need a large bed of water, and in this land…” Elliot frowned, looking to the ocean. “A source of irrigation will be needed. Yet the ocean is so far.”

 

I look at their downtrodden features, baffled and exasperated. “Are we mages, or what?”

 

“Such feats of power would surely garner the attention of demons-” Leah stated, but I cut her off.

 

“I make literal balls of explosions from nothing and have no fear of it, and guess what? Demons rarely bother me. I don’t understand. There’s something you fear? Find someone to sleep by you so terror demons don’t think you easy pickings. You fear desire demons? Seriously, just masturbate and feel sated before you sleep. You fear hunger demons? Find more than one thing to get a talent in if you’re looking for something to sate the need for challenge or struggle or whatever it is you hunger for. Burden shared is a burden halved. Find ways to mute them, and simply tell them to go fuck themselves, you’re busy.”

 

“It’s not so easy-”

 

“Listen, this isn’t like depression where it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy or something like that, this is you people unable to say no because of the environment you’re raised in within the Circles.” I state, because even if I don’t know it’s true, I simply must be authoritative to needle it into their heads. “Your magic isn’t a crime. It’s a damn glorious talent. I’ve never seen anyone wield the glyphs, the earth or the healing you three do. You are sublime. You’re not an abomination in the bloody making, or whatever the Chantry tries to drill into your head. Now gear your arses up to make this place damn liveable.”

 

Elliot shifted. “What if it just isn’t possible to do so, hypothetically? Not the being unable to do the magic, but the schematics?”

 

“Irrigation? We shall have our magics entwine to create a sort of plumbing system from the Colean Sea, combining the glyphs to keep it maintained far below the ground and away from predators,” I think it through, having base plans. “I saw how glyphs on the Circle help it maintain its structure, we can use those here.”

 

“That take the output energy of mages doing spells for its upkeep,” Raul pointed out and then said bitterly, “A nice little system we buy into to keep us locked away.”

 

“Which is why we’re going to use some of those stones,” I mumble into my bag I’m now scrounging around it and take out the large bricks brimming with magic I’d happily stolen from the Circle, “And use it today to complete the irrigation system. Leah, tell me there are ideas in your head swimming around now you’ve access to stones that can keep your glyphs activated?”

 

Her eyes widened, glittering with intrigue. Then a wicked grin lit her face up. “These… I can use these, inscribe them with other glyphs to keep them as lodestones and power them without the use of any mages around. I studied it in those old Elvhen texts for magical constructs. I’m not sure how well it will work however.”

 

Raul was always edgy about humans talking about ancient elves, but it seemed this time he was all for it. “The works of my ancestors come to life once again? I would long to see it happen. First, go circle your land. We’ll set up the beds and then crack on with your crazy plans. Go on, shoo.” The elf waves us away as he unfolds the tent, and Warden Horatio is with him, helping.

 

Leah is nodding in agreement as she begins to take out parchment and writing implement and books for references.

 

The more earth inclined mages of us do, with the Warden Nancy trailing and informing of the land. I was changing the carbon structure and pulling up a short wall of iron that Elliot extended even further up, allowing us to push it a little were we added a few extra acres in, pretending to look the other way. Lucky for me, I had a fortnight to prep my land before going into service for the Grey Wardens, and frankly, I’m pretty sure that’s all I will need. It takes a few hours for us to do this, because our land truly is immense and the heat is a killer. The horses need watering as well as we do. We’d long since taken to also carrying a large block of ice above us to let it drop its melted surface down on us.

 

At the same time, we’d put pins in the map, Warden Nancy keeping it for us and when we’d gotten back to them, the numbers were taken in by Leah to calculate the space that the lodestones would expand to. With five of them, it would not only get all the space enclosed within the iron walls, but also a good acre away from it in all directions. Leah also calculated extra lodestones output on the sly, in case there’d ever be any sort of expansion in the future. Expansion enough for a theoretical entire Anderfels being magical. “But that was only theoretical,” She told them in a croaky voice when the Wardens were around but to us in a much more normal voice when they were sleeping, “and completely applicable.” She pointedly looked my way.

 

I simply smile, proud of her. “Such a remarkable brain you have!”

 

Raul had been with myself and Elliot, trying to see if the way I wanted my land was feasible, and gawking at me when I told them I wanted trees so huge that we could have entire levels on each thick branch. Leah dropped in when they both began to argue with me, “An immense amount of magic can be found in the Circle if you hire all the mages.” She gave another look to me.

         

I knew the structure of gold and diamond, and so I change the structure up around me. “Will this do?”

 

The Wardens stared in shock.

 

Raul was used to it, turning to them. “This should be enough to get all the mages of the Circle of Kassel. Will one of you go get them? The round-up of them should be a few days to sort of Templar guards, so that’s when we should get all the planning done. One of you can stay here to make sure we do, but we really aren’t going anywhere, no matter if you believe us or not.”

 

Elliot snapped back into it. “We could make the trees out of gold. First make sure the land is fertile enough before draining it with something that huge.”

 

“True,” I muse aloud. “But I was hoping for us to hire one of the mages that are excellent at barriers, and use energy from the tree as a base and energy supply to keep up a barrier that will protect against the harsh weather.”

 

The oldest mage cackled lowly. “I see some of my lessons stuck! When magic and the living natural resources combine, glyphs are more powerful.”

 

That’s where the idea came from, I internally thought to myself. I nod at here. “Exactly. Ell, you’re the one that can keep the earthen image in your head and direct it best, so you’ll be the main man for this. Raul will be the one to stabilise your body, along with Carmella and Camila, those Antivan twins Raul’s been training up.”

 

The grizzled Ferelden nodded resolutely, determined.

 

“Sounds like a plan,” Raul grinned at me, the harsh Dalish against our humanness melting away to show a bright lad that adored magic, a boyish look to him. We continued to plan, having three trees that would be as humungous as we could get it. I wanted it larger than even Hyperion, the tallest tree on my planet, making the main one stand at five hundred feet tall, planning on multiple platforms elevating us up. Not all at once, of course, that’s be foolish. But at first, the lower branches, dozens of feet thick, would house rooms for all the mages of Anderfels, and we’d have to plan for a plumbing system for both the toilets and water going up each of the trees. The stability would be secured and then we’d go up further and further, gaining more loadstones and glyphs and such to maintain it.

 

Then there was also food and plants to harvest and go through crop rotation and soil fertility to plan out, of how we could keep the glyphs working on it. A nice park to the side, a small lake, and hopefully a magical blacksmith nearer the back, as I know Elliot would love to begin one.

 

In a week, after immense planning a then anxiousness to begin magically creating it, the requested mages all came. They were unsure and wary and a little frightened, but they’d been paid to do a job, and they were enjoying the relative freedom of being outside. Some foolish ones had tried to run, but Templars had gotten them.

 

It made my lips purse at how they were treated.

 

But it wouldn’t be for long.

 

In short order, the first of the trees, as tall as any Coast Redwood, as thick as any Giant Sequoia, and as multi-branched as any Willow and with a canopy as majestic as a Banyan, it glowed a stunning mixture of glistening gold trunk that flared into copper branches and the leaves of the tree… They glittered with all the colours of the mages course, an absolute barrage or shining colour, lightly glowing with magic. Everyone had to stop and stare in awe of it, thrumming with low key power, and simply standing by it made one feel revitalised.

 

It astounded me, tears coming to my eyes as I put a hand to my mouth.

 

_I helped create that._

 

Raul put his arm around my shoulder, hugging me close. “Thank you,” He whispered in my ear, low, meaning it and I turn to him, shaky. He put his forehead to mine, eyes wet, and repeated in Elvhen, “ _Thank you_ , _sister of my heart._ ”

 

I gave a wide smile back, tears dropping and, said, “You’re welcome,” and hugged him tight.

 

There was still so much to do, and so we cracked on with working on platforms to get us up there, of creating rooms and levels for the rooms to be on and creating all that would be needed in each of them. Some worked on household items, others worked on glyph sets, and a majority of mages worked on making sure all the soil was still being able to house the produce that was growing in it. The land was now an interesting mix of lush, verdant green grass and sultry red-brown earth that reminded me of the planet Mars.

 

Clarice, also here, was already asking to draw up contracts between this land for food for the Circle, as well as for herbs for potioneering.

 

I’d tell her I’d think about it during my year as an honorary Grey Warden and see what comes up, as this first year was a test-run to see how well it all worked out.

 

The woman looked up at the incredible tree and then at me, doubtful it would fail.

 

Soon enough, two weeks did go by, and we had a great start on what would be the Anderfel Mages new home – away from the Circle and all its ties to the Chantry, considering the contract with the King I now had, overseen by the Grey Wardens, allowed me and mine to be protected.

 

I was taken off to go fight darkspawn.

 

.

 

They taught me hours upon hours of the sword, surprisingly light, only about two to three kilos, but damn did my arms aches after constantly holding of it, and my hand throbbed after clenching it tight. The other hand would be focusing on magic as before I’d used both to help me see the magic through, so to speak, so this was a learning experience and a half. I’d never had to use my hands in such a way. I got used to it though, my training never stopping, and experience with it against darkspawn was also overflowing, helping drill the training it further.

 

Darkspawn were terrifying, and more than one night I’d woken up, alarmed reaching for the hilt, only for a fellow Grey Warden to reach out to me in the tent and hold my hand in understanding.

 

“ _You may not get the nightmares like we do, but we know how to help a person through one.”_

_“Come, sit by the fire for a bit and let our stories get you to sleep once more._ ”

 

“ _Have a drink, settle those nerves. That’s it, lass. Here to talk if you need it, aye? You’re new to this type of life, we understand, sweetheart._ ”

 

Throughout the year, I made sure to volunteer on all missions around my home, allowing the Grey Wardens to enter the warded land, even devoting a new smaller tree to them, in a show of me having their backs so they could have a home away from home to call their own. The produce came out marvellous and huge as the magic kept well in the lodestones, Leah already training four loyal apprentices in the upkeep of them, knowing she was getting on in life. Instead of trading with the Circle, I instead traded with the Grey Wardens to weaken the Circle’s prosperity and enhance that of the Wardens, who seemed to slowly be taking more and more control in Anderfels instead of the king, who seemed only to really care about the capital Hossberg.

 

So many villages were stuck in the desert, left without proper healing or decent food.

 

They were practically bait for darkspawn to attack, and many had!

 

Every time I saw a semi-decimated village and made corpses of the invading darkspawn, I felt an anger for the Royalty of Anderfels.

 

It infuriated me.

 

How could the King not try to do anything about it?!

 

Nancy put a hand to my shoulder as my rose-pink magic crackled around me. “At ease, Warden Beatrice,” She soothed halfway through my tenure as one of them, black hair slicked back from sweating under her helmet, the piece of armour between chest plate and gauntlet. “We do what we can-”

 

“Do what we can?! We’ve a plethora of mages of all sorts rotting up in a bloody tower that could help, that would defend their land-” I cut myself off as others looked over, scared and lost. I turn to Nancy, letting my magic go through the ground, travel into her and spark the hormones necessary to promote determination and affection to me, making her see what I wanted her to see. “The more mages that are free, the more hope there is for the country. How we can give these people food and homes, set up wards against darkspawn with the combined might of the mages and the Grey Warden knowledge.”

 

She stared at me and then nodded, slowly at first, and then firmly. “You’re right. We could train them up in weapons… a contract then, between the two factions.”

 

“But first we need to set up the mages new home, my land, so they can have a base not controlled by the Chantry or the Kingdom of Hossberg.”

 

Nancy grasped her sword. “I shall speak to the First Warden and the Commander of the Grey, Dernheim.”

 

It turns out the Warden-commander of Anderfels had been desiring to get more firepower form the hundreds of mages in the Circle. A stern man, with mousey brown hair and a thick beard, greying in areas and a broad set of shoulders that held on his back a menagerie of weapons, came to visit my home when they were finished with going into the old Deep Roads that had been causing the most travel of the past decades. Just in time for me to finish my year. Blue eyes that were bright watched me with a natural intensity, taking in the majesty of my mostly built land. “You could make this all over the land of Anderfels. The place could become better with just a small section of mages.”

 

“And give up our autonomy? After we’ve been such good little mages, and just wrangle us all up and chuck us back into the tower or wherever you find it best pleases you until we’re needed once more?” I glower at him, turning from the sight of the blacksmith clanking away to the far right of us.

 

He smirked back at me. “You’re a bold one. I like that. If the rest of them are like you, we shall gladly have you fight by our sides. Now, the terms.”

 

He was quick, because he was desperate. It seemed that even though the Grey Wardens were the popular vote, it wouldn’t stay like that forever. More and more power needed to be brought over, and if it looked like they could take the mages while still looking subservient to the Chantry, which was so huge over here in Anderfels, then they’d gain more power.

 

And simply put, more power for them equalled more power for us.

 

Of course, I wouldn’t just let us be used. Our land held the food, held the base so inundated with wards and protections from all sorts, I played that we barely actually needed them, and they were just there as extra protection. That eventually we would have our bases without them. He didn’t like that, but upon seeing the wards at that very moment easily repel a pack of phoenixes and our mages decimate them from inside, I smirked back at him. I also promptly informed him that with or without them, I was going to take the mages of Anderfels and bring them here and let them live a freer life.

 

The Grey Wardens could have an alliance, or they could be known as ones that abandoned mages when they were wanted.

 

Dernheim scowled, but also hashed out more details with me and a few others on each of our sides, debating for the next bunch of days.

 

Eventually we gained an agreed upon contract and shook hands firmly.

 

We gained an extra bit of respect for each other that day.

 

This building of the land went on for months and months afterwards, and with the Grey Wardens at our back and hiding it or slyly putting it into contracts approved by the King, we pushed the boarders so that our land to our north hit the base of Tallo’s Eye Mountain, that our east extended twice as close to the Colean Sea and close to Sundarin, which was a new trading partner, our south so much closer to the Lattenfluss and our west expanding to be above the Lake Merdaine to the left of Hossberg. Several more trees were grown with hundreds upon hundreds of flats there, just waiting to be used and filled up. A tree was devoted to homing, another to entertainment, to management of the new city, to magical learning, to magical experimenting, to training in weapons and of course one to the Grey Wardens… so many things were happening here.

 

Yet, we made sure to have it kept strictly to Anderfels knowledge only.

 

A whole sleuth of mages coming here would bombard our mini-society, and we were already still too new and finding our place.

 

I ended up being the leader here, with a bunch of my closest as a sort of council, one that took charge over managing each tree. We had different law sets for different things, taking different laws from all over the world that suited us as a whole best. All the normal ones were there of course, like no murdering and no thieving, though with how are food here was pretty much a group of people cooked for the whole, or how things like pottery was made for all and gold was just something nice to look upon as the people knew I would simply made statues to practise my skills, or how healing was something I’d made sure was free for all, there was a big feeling of society here.

 

Though with some things like who created what spell here or who’s theory that actually was, we’d had to bring in some other forms of diplomacy – namely spirits.

 

It had been controversial for one of the mages to bring it up, but it turns out Clement had been a spirit healer, and had a good friendship with a few dozen spirits. In return for memories, they gave over memories.Currently, we were trying to find a way for spirits to come down without the stark change of the waking world turning them into demons, but that was slow going.

 

Over the next couple years, we heard about some sort of explosion of a Chantry but paid barely any attention to it, though we did the resulting Mage-Templar war that spread across the land of Thedas. Fearful eyes turned to me when the mage with this knowledge came to me in a hurry, asking what we should do.

 

“We’re still building ourselves, though any mage that comes this way can be given a home. Small clumps of immigrant mages can come in, but we are not ready, nor in any sort of strong place to bring ourselves out to attack.”

 

Raul pursed his lips before stating, “It is likely that the Chantry knows of us and will be willing to bring out forces of Templars to prey upon those that do.”

 

“Are we willing to risk our people from here dying?”

 

“Are we prepared to let others die because we are too cowardly?” A woman barked back at the other councilman, devolving this into angry debates.

 

Elliot spoke up, “If there are those that wish to go out and help protect the others, they should be able to.”

 

“We do not hold anyone back from leaving permanently,” Raul countered, running a hand through blonde hair, “But neither will they be let back in so casually. We must protect ourselves. We can give shift rotations to those who wish to patrol, and ask the Grey Wardens to go with them,” He said to Nancy and I, the pair of us next to each other.

 

Nancy nodded, her somewhat waspish appearance leading to sharp body language as she did so. “Naturally, we will accompany our allies.” After all, more mages here indebted to the mages here would lead to more likely chances of nabbing mages for their own numbers. “Continued alliance benefits us all. And we want our loved ones safe.”

 

Many Grey Wardens and mages had found contentment with each other and several new families had popped up. Mages that had been denied the ability to have children were eagerly making up for time and Grey Wardens that had little chance of ever parenting a child, inclusive of being away from society at large and from having lower fertile rates compared to their fellow men and women of all species were beyond grateful to have the chance to raise a kid for the next decade to three they had left. Not to mention mages were suddenly coming across the idea of their mates dying early to be a serious matter they were intent upon extending.

 

Dying from battle, fine, they could deal; from shortened lives of what was a _magical malady_ , so to speak?

 

No. Unacceptable.

 

And so they become the first group outside of the Grey Wardens to be given the secret of how to become one. Only a select group in the community knew, but it was being worked on as a major project, apart from the development of the land and researching into more ancient Elvhen works that could benefit all species and how to bring spirits over safely.

 

Over the next two years we worked hard on all fronts, repelling a surprise attack by an angry Chantry with ease considering the land around us.

 

Raul gained wind of talks between the Mages and Templars at the Temple of Sacred Ashes and finding someone to stand in for him, set off with the blessings of the council.

 

I hugged him tight, kissing him on both cheeks and looking up at him with a firm look. “If you need me, I will come for you.”

 

“Just make sure to set up a large area for incoming Mages.” The Dalish warned, with a half smirk. He ran a hand down my face. “Don’t come yourself. The people need you to lead them. You’re the hope here.”

 

“I shall set up a treasury of lightning balls and come back.”

 

He snorted, looking at me fondly. “Can’t say I didn’t try. Stay safe, sister. And stay away from that Leslie man. He’s just after what’s between your legs.”

 

I smirk and waggled my brows. “Well…”

 

A scoff and he parted from me, looking at me intently before nodding and leaving with another couple mages to go spy on the proceedings, planning on going the long way across the Seas’s and around Vyrantium to dodge Templars and slavers from Tevinter alike. It was weeks away to get all the way down to The Hinterlands, practically a month and a half.

 

A sigh, and I get back to work with Leah on designing more glyph calculations to protect our land from a sudden over-population of dragons of all things, likely drawn from an amass of magic.

 

Dragons rather did like magic.

 

* * *

 

 

* * *

 


	2. Annexing and Adjusting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the Empire begins.

* * *

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

It’s upon staring up at the swirling angry hole of doom up there that I make up my mind to go to the Temple for myself, leaving Elliot and Leah in charge, making sure they had much help. Knowing not to hold me back, they wish me luck, looking pained with the responsibility on them. I don’t leave for ten days, however, making sure all is well there, that the Grey Wardens contracts are renewed, with extra clauses of protection for us in return for more food that now needs to be set up.

 

Then I’m off with my own full pack and promises to send word as often as I can. The Grey Wardens help guard me through the majority of northern Thedas, but Nevarra City on the Imperial Highway is as far as they’re willing to go, ever Wardens of Anderfels before I’m alone. It takes me twenty-five days to travel there, hearing talk about an Inquisition and some Herald of Andraste.

 

But then there’s talks of the Herald being a Dalish elf with the smoothest blonde hair that shines silver and gold in the light and my chest clenches.

 

The worst feeling that it’s Raul comes into me, and my horse is pounding along the Hinterlands, exchanged at the Crossroads and then I’m off again to Redcliffe Castle, were some Inquisition scouts I overheard said they’d seen him go to some Crossroads villagers.

 

An hour later and I’m jumping off the horse, shoving his reigns into a bewildered stable-boys’ hands and tossing a silver to him. I jog on but pause as a large group of mages are coming out, shifting to the side to a stall and pretending to look at the wares. I narrow my gaze their way, noting a dwarf in decent livery and a woman in seeker uniform, eyes narrowing instantly at the sign of the Chantry and take in then this Warden - Ferelden if I’m not mistaken, perhaps Marcher.

 

I'm then exhaling in relief when I see Raul, angry and stiff-shouldered.

 

And his green hand.

 

My eyes close, feeling exhausted suddenly.

 

Of fucking course it was.

 

I tucked my blanket scarf around me tighter as the silken duster I had on catches the eye of my favoured companion. I pull down the hood of my scarf blanket as Raul’s eyes widen and he stops. Smirking I come over to him quickly, sash dangling around my knees, the symbol of my land at the base of it. It’s enough to have him snapping out of it, going the few metres to me and scooping me up in relief, fingers clenching into me. “ _Sister! You’re here! I am so relieved to see one of my own!_ ” He exclaimed in Anders, laughing happily, placing me down before him and taking me in, the lack of sleep obvious. “ _You are tired. You came as soon as you saw the Breach?_ ”

 

“ _I did, brother._ ”

 

“Herald? Who is this woman?”

 

I saw a peculiar sight of his ear tips going a bit red and had to widen my smirk. “ _You keep quiet!_ ” He hissed and I snickered before letting my diplomacy face come on. “Seeker Cassandra, this is Beatrice of Anor’Tuasha. She is the leader of the free mages of Anderfels.”

 

That gained attention from the group.

 

“Free?” The Seeker went on, turning to me with narrowed eyes.

 

“Oh?” Another spoke up, Tevinter. “Is this that land I heard of through the grapevine over the past few years?”

 

“Yes, where I also call home and where my heart lays,” Raul declares proudly and places an arm around my shoulder, “And this is one I call sister, and Leader.”

 

. 

 

In short time we’re in a place called Haven, which is honestly one of the worst places I’ve been to in the whole of Thedas, but there’s a few people that shine out. A man called Harritt is excellent at blacksmithing and I wish Elliot hadn’t had to stay in Anor, because he’d have loved to get training from this man and the greater class of weapons we make for the Wardens and Mages alike would have been worth it. I wonder if I can instead pinch one of the apprentices he prefers. Adan is the potions man and is spectacular at making tweaks to the recipe to make it greater, though he seems to hate being the healer of the village.

 

Dorian is another, and it’s him talking to an elf mage when I leave Adan after crafting him a new cauldron and mixing set of the highest quality he heavily thanks me for that I finally talk to him.

 

“Ah, Lady Beatrice!” The Tevinter calls out, as if I’d not be able to see him all sparkling like that.

 

“Altus Dorian. We meet again,” I reply smoothly, coming over and stopping before the two with a little half-smirk.

 

“Is it really true?” He leaned forward, eyes intent. “You really broke away from the Chantry and made your own land of mages?”

 

The elf’s eyes widen. “Impressive, if true.”

 

“It is. Both of them,” I add on. Then I look at the elf curiously. “Not Dalish, but apostate, I heard of you from Raul. If you’re ever seeking a home, we are slowly opening our gates to fellow mages. He seems to approve of you.”

 

“The Herald, approve of our resident hobo, Solas?” Dorian chuckled. “They squabble over everything!”

 

I’m surprised by that, because Raul has been speaking of him most of all, reluctantly impressed by his skill. “The ice mage, who dreams in ruins, traversing the Fade as he does the land?” I push gently.

 

Solas bows his head. “I do.”

 

I nod, accepting it. “Then yes. Raul does.”

 

“I do what?” The Dalish comes up to us, slinking an arm over my shoulder, looking around before focusing on the conversation, holding his staff as a counterbalance.

 

“Like Solas.” I shift into him, putting an arm around him as I smirk up at him.

 

He scowls at me, sighing his annoyance. “Really? Yes, fine, I respect his abilities. Let’s go for a drink.” He tugs at me, wanting away from this.

 

I snicker. “But I was just offering Solas a home, Raul! Imagine, he can help us on one of our lands major projects if he’s a Dreamer like you said.”

 

Raul grimaced. “I don’t want this Inquisition, part of the Chantry, having anything to do with Anor’Tuasha. Inclusive of the people.” He glowers at the two mages before him then he turns a frown on me. “As soon as this Breach rubbish is done, we’re getting back home and ignoring everyone again.”

 

“Anor’Tuasha?” Dorian questions curiously. “Elvhen, yes? So it has more Elvhen culture, perhaps?”

 

“ _Ancient_ Elvhen, thank you,” Raul sniffs, proud of his home. “We remade it from scratch, based upon old Elvhen architecture and modern magic. Great, colossal trees made from magic of hundreds of mages, with trunks that glisten a gold in magic like the Black City was once reputed to do, with millions of leaves in all the colours of our magical cores. You think your Tevinter is a wonder, you’ve seen nothing compared to multitudes of buildings upon thick tree branches as wide as the Chantry behind us, and platforms that magic elevates to get us there. Stone paths light up after dark. Motes of magic float by as messages to other mages. Glyphs are chiselled into every surface. Magic is life there. In every heartbeat of time that passes.” He sounded longing.

 

My shoulders slump, missing it. But I smile and tease gently, “You forget to tell them about the diamond statues gleaming in the hot desert sunlight, of the park that has flowers bloom up and dance as couples go by, of the lessons children get taught in the streets while sitting on floating bubbles of magic, of the great barrier with the Lichtenburg figures streaming through it that help recycle magic into the red earth that sprouts emerald blades of grass when everything that surrounds us is harsh sand and stony steppes.”

 

He leans on me. “Stop, you. I’m homesick. I won’t see it for months at this rate.”

 

“See it? Perhaps, if he would like,” I look at Solas, “A Dreamer may see our home in our sleep.”

 

“Don’t think you’re letting me miss out on this!” Dorian instantly stated, lighting up at the thought.

 

Raul looked at him suspiciously but eventually nodded.

 

“I would be pleased to conduct a Dreaming.” There really was something satisfied about his words too. “When shall we begin?”

 

Dorian, Raul and I instantly stated, “Now.”

 

Solas coughs into his fist to hide the laughter and nods. “Very well-” He blinks as Raul shoos us all into his home, bemused by it but going along with it. “Ma nuvenin.” He follows us in, watching as Raul tuts at the small bed, and suddenly realises his fellow elf is rather something of a neat-freak and mother hen and bossy leader all in one when he begins to nag at the Anor'tuasha Leader. _Flowering Home_. It’s amusing to see that side of him and Dorian is the same, if the look they share is anything to go by. It seems that being around one he trusted and loved brought out the more touchier part of him, looking out for his Leader.

 

“Bea, make us a bed, hm? There.” He points to the fireplace in the cavern, waving his staff so that move wood swoops into the fireplace and I nod.

 

In my head I imagine a large circular bed, shaped something like a seat on a Waltzer at a fun fair, and filled with goose feathers in a thick, luxurious red velvet blanket and matching pillows. Magic thrums through me, into the ground and then without a sound, I raise my hands, the soft gold bed comes up, making Dorian gasp out loud and a sharp sound to come from Solas. But Raul is already taking off his boots and jacket off, used to my incredible skills.

 

“H-How?!”

 

Raul gives the man a look as I take off my jacket, revealing my half-corset and low-slung breeches and sash. “Well, did you really think we could make something like a magical mini-kingdom with a subpar Leader?”

 

I bend down to undo my boots. “So snippy, Raul. When you know the very core of what makes an item an item, making it become a much simpler task. Hence, bed. And diamond statues.” I place my boots and jacket next to Raul’s on and by Solas’ desk chair and join Raul in the bed. Moments later and Dorian joins on left Raul’s side and Solas on my right with Solas offering to put us to sleep and finding us.

 

Floating through the Fade, I smile at Curiosity and Love, though Pride is in the back, watching on and coming over slowly. “Good afternoon, friends of the Fade.” We talk for a while, and then I feel an odd feeling of fuzziness before turning to my right.

 

Solas is suddenly by me, surprised to see me staring straight at him. “You are the last for me to round up. Raul wishes to have the dream from his mindscape.” He holds his hand out.

 

“Alright, we’ll do that.” I turn to the other three. “It was good seeing you again, Curiosity, Pride, Love. Be well.” I took his hand firmly, waving at the other three and feeling myself fall before Dorian and Raul appeared before us. “Gents.”

 

Raul smiled at me fondly and I let go of Solas’ hand to go to my brother, holding onto his. The world around us flutters when we do, pulses of pink and copper bleeding from us like smoke in the wind. We all admire it for a second, before Raul’s magic throbs and suddenly the world surrounding us is Anor’Tuasha.

 

My beloved Anor’Tuasha, the flowering home.

 

I sigh in delight at my city before me, beautiful and ethereal. It certainly was prettier than anything I’d ever seen in my life, and I was rightly proud of it. Idly I reach down to touch a flower, seeing the ghostly outline showing we were in the Fade move a split second after the ‘real’ flower did. Wandering spirits came over to greet us, with Dorian the only one looking a little edgy.

 

“Come now, away with you, none of that.” The Tevinter shooed away.

 

“Don’t be so rude to my people, Dorian,” I state, giving him a stark stare of disapproval. “Serenity has helped resolve many disputes in our city when tempers flare.”

 

“My apologies. I had not known such magical structures meant so much to the people of Anor’Tuasha,” He said honestly.

 

Serenity put a hand on my shoulder as I looked about to berate him for his unknowing rudeness. “He will learn.”

 

I huff through my nose when he continued to look baffled at our exchange. “Yes, yes…” I grouched at the spirit, who smiled at me. I looked forward at the other two. Raul was ahead with Solas, pointing out everything he adored about the place, with a mesmerized Solas listening with intensity at all he described. “Come on you, let me show you around my home.”

 

“ _You_ she says,” Dorian sighed, dramatic.

 

I simply roll my eyes, grasping his hand and pull him over to the farming area, where mages wrote continuous glyphs of fertility and growth in complex formations. “We’ve been able to nourish the land with magic, old spells of Tevinter and Elvhen being used as ideas, but then recreated in a completely new fashion. See there?” I pointed as a group of mages raised their separate glyph formation and raised the swirling patterns into the air, only to seamlessly join with one another and then shunt the humungous formation down to the ground.

 

Dorian watched eagerly as the ground flared in power before roots of all kinds grew up within seconds. Potatoes, carrots, cabbages, herbs and spices… All sorts of tubers and edible plants were collected via magical gestures, food popping out of the ground as if some invisible entity plucked them out, and they all floated to several magically floating humungous storage pots. The lid sealed themselves, glowing a salmon pink to show preservation and freshness spells were at work before dimming and were floated over to carriages. “This is for the people?”

 

“Not ours, but Hossberg. We trade. It would have been to the Circle, but that is practically a ghost tower by now after what we did to it.”

 

“Did?” The Tevinter asks curiously as Solas and Raul come up to us.

 

“We took in all the mages from it after exporting all our goods away from the tower after faking a charade of alliance,” My elf brother informs smugly.

 

I nod. “Indeed so. There’s no way we’d let our people be imprisoned there for long. The Grey Wardens are our real allies. They bring all Anderfels mages to our land rather than shipping them off to any Circle, and in return, we help them out with darkspawn problem in the region and other such problems they may have. They have a sort of home slash embassy here, too.” I point out the smaller tree, where those are Wardens wear a brooch of griffon on them proudly.

 

“I thought Anderfels was extremely pro-chantry?” The Altus questions. “How is it your city survives so flourishingly?”

 

“We get attacked by them often now. Chantry zealots who think us heathens.” Raul scoffs, his arms crossing.

 

“Quite so. We had another attack from those idiots once again,” I tell him. “Trying to have us repent or something. They were outside the barrier for days on end. We told them we’d give them water if they fucked off. Gave them water and food and they didn’t, saying that us giving into them was some god or another’s ways of them being right because we naturally wanted to submit. I don’t understand it still. Apparently kindness only belongs to one religion. Then they attacked and so we sent them packing, with four fifths of their number dead. It’s not even us shooting. It’s the barrier defending.”

 

“Why do they bother?” The marked elf asks in disbelief. “It’s never turned out well for them. Did they forget the last few years?”

 

“Who knows? Religious zealotry is hardly understandable to any but them.”

 

“It did get worse since the Chantry being blown up in Kirkwall,” Raul thought out loud, a nearby spirit nodding.

 

“You constantly render unfair judgement on people, eventually they’ll rebel. Is it unfair innocent people died in the church blast? Of course. Sure. But you’re battling violence with violence. Of course innocents will get in the line of fire. So if you’re still staying in places or with people that are targets, you need to have an exit plan, stat. Thinking it won’t happen to you when you stick with it is stupidity,” I remark, hardened to suffering now after seeing all the bullshit in Circles and what happened to villages with uncaring royalty.

 

“I agree. People are so blind,” Raul said strongly. “We protect our own in Anor. Such things don’t happen, and nor will we allow them to. We should reinforce the barrier another time.”

 

“Yes…” I murmur, looking to the side where a spirit of Strength was next to Solas. “Strength, if I may be so bold to ask?”

 

“Send a message to Elliot of the Smithies to power another rune set?”

 

I bow my head at his accuracy.

 

“It shall be done, Leader Anor’Tuasha. Kindness wishes to speak to you.” The built spirit waves, disappearing in sparkles of red while the softly lit black spirit comes forth

 

Kindness puts their hands up in prayer formation to their nose and I mimic the action. Then I smile, because if one could have a personal other-realmer friend, this sleek spirit was it. “Kindness. I have missed you.”

 

It cocked its head. “Yes. Yes, you have. I am grateful for it. You bring outsiders…” It seemed to focus on Solas for a moment. “You offered a home to a lone wolf. A pack. It is good not to have to make the first move for acceptance, or to have to lead.”

 

I frown at that, wondering what it meant. I peer back at a blank face Solas. “I offered a home, yes. Solas is a Dreamer, one that has brought us here with ease.”

 

“You offer another path to the lone wolf, madness mage. It would take longer for him to have his worldview assimilate seamlessly, but it would work beautifully,” Kindness mentioned, watching the elf steadily. It reached for me, touching my hair and playing with it without turning their eyes off of the elf. “Perhaps some wisdom is in order?”

 

“Always is,” Raul eyed Solas suspiciously.

 

The elf said nothing in reply to his younger companion.

 

But I saw his jaw clench.

 

Curious.

 

“Riiight, well, enough of these odd conversations,” Dorian speaks brightly. “What is that?” He points to something else.

 

.

 

I get called back, though I do leave Raul with promises to be back.

 

The King of Hossberg is seeing us as a threat. Not only were we taking his land (by his kingdoms’ legal laws may I add) we were holding mages that belonged to other lands, and we had one of our own as some heretical Herald of an Inquisition. He didn’t like it, and so I’d come back, finding that his forces were lining up along the defences and my people were looking scared.

 

And, what’s worse to me, they were looking _defeated._

 

Hell no.

 

I scowled, unbelievably protective of my city and the freedom there that nowhere else in this world provided my people. They were powering the wards up against the thousands of men there aiming to break down the walls and making them submit. Perception whispered the words in my ears of what he was demanding with my open link to the Fade.

 

“ _Bring your ridiculous walls down! I am your King! Your people belong to me, your lives are mine! Or do you declare yourselves autonomous, and up for the taking? If you do not see the land you are on as belonging to me, you shall be once more taken to Circles!_ ”

 

My hands tightened on the reins, the horse below me snorting.

 

King Wilhelm was a fool.

 

I made napalm, throwing it to the side and letting it explode.

 

The attention gained was immediate and the hoard of them turned around, seeming to relax when they saw the singular me. The King pushed through, guards on either side of him as I also came down the hill to meet in the middle. Neither of us got to close to the other.

 

“Contracts were written and agreed upon, who the hell are you to think yourself above law for all the peoples of the land? Or is the King, someone merely graced with being born in the right time and the right moment, above being held responsible for warmongering and murder of innocent, free peoples?” I say loudly, chin up. “Tell me Wilhelm!”

 

“The Chantry-”

 

“Has no power here!” I cut in. “We call ourselves rid of them! Not one possession of demon has happened to any of us, so no need for Templars or Circles to put us in! This land is ours!” There is cries of agreement from my people, and the barrier floods with power, zaps of electric racing along it. “You try and march on us, and we shall return the favour!”

 

He didn’t take that well, and with a cry of, “Archers! Fire!” arrows are flung my way.

 

I smirk, diamond encasing me in a barrier and then I explode it outwards, shards of diamonds acting like bullets and taking out a large swath of the Kings men, leaving him free of pain but alone. He turns, but the mages are already directing the magic of the barrier out and it’s a complete massacre as hundreds of men drop dead in an instant.

 

Wilhelm gasps, so many of his good men gone. Immediately. _Ruthlessly_. He turns to me, fear in his eyes. “Stop this! I am your King!”

 

I ride closer. “We have no King. We are Anor’Tuasha, and _you_ are now _our_ subjects.” My magic flares out, attacking his mind. I latch on to his hypothalamus, direct the hormones, and take him over like a puppet. A spirit of Command is happy to take him over at my wish, accessing his memories for better understanding of his character. The sheer ability to move in this world is enough for Duty to do as I will in return for this opportunity. “Go.”

 

The Command possessed King of Hossberg raised his sword and told his men to move out.

 

They leave.

 

I look to my people as they leave and race my horse into Anor’Tuasha with all due haste. I get off, my council meeting me within seconds and surrounding me, our scared people around that.

 

Elliot asks swiftly, worried, “Are we truly going to take over the capital of Anderfels?”

 

“Yes. The mages and templars down south are still warring, Orlais is going through civil war and the Breach is terrifying the rest of the world.”

 

Leah hummed at that. “There’s no real allies for the capital to call upon. If we want to move, now is the best time, where we can take over in retaliation for their attack. Duty.” A spirit in a ball of magic to protect it come before us, awaiting. “What are the thoughts of the spirits?”

 

“The King will not be willing to give up his throne when Command leaves. He will desire vengeance for the murder of his brother who lays outside, body cooling.”

 

Hugo, an Orlesian elf mage with large glassy grey eyes and a manager of the entertain section of the city worries, “We killed his kin? This will not end well.” He wrings his hands. “We are not fighters.”

 

There’s chatter of concurrence in the background.

 

Daval, another Orlesian elf that had been Dalish for a time as a youth snorts obnoxiously loud. He crosses his arms and states staunchly, “We will not surrender to those willing to kill us off for what goodness we have created here!”

 

Murmurs of agreement again, stronger this time.

 

“The spirit of Command that works with our patrol guards and Grey Wardens has taken hold of Wilhelm Augustin,” I inform them and then harden my eyes as I look at them. “We must strike now if we are to go through with this. I want to fight, when we have this chance and opportunity to make sure our freedom is kept true! I didn’t do all I can, all the making of the city, all the bargaining and sheer effort to bite at any bit of land to keep, just for us to hide in our city!”

 

“The barrier keeps us safe! Why should we fight?!” Some woman calls from the group.

 

“This barrier is just to keep outside foes from us. We cannot say we are free and fear stepping from it from perceived enemies!” Daval yells back.

 

Broad shouldered Elliot steps up to me. “We are strong. We have the tools to help us in the blacksmith quarters, we have so many potions of healing and lyrium to be put to use. I agree. Let us take it over and make sure our land is safe for us mages!”

 

Leah is on my other side. “I will not return to any prison!”

 

The crowd agrees loudly, roaring their approval.

 

Relieved at their continued belief in me, I pause as Nancy and a retinue of Grey Wardens come up.

 

The sharp-looking woman eyes me and I stare back, unwilling to budge, silencing the crowd. Then she takes her longsword out in one hand, point facing down and clasped her hand over it. She kneels before me, and the dozens of Grey Wardens follow suit, causing gasps. “We are on your side, Lady Anor. Your will is ours. Your commands will be met.”

 

“Warden Nancy?”

 

Her eyes burn into me, determination bright and bold. “This is our home, too, my Lady.”

 

I nod once. “And we shall all protect it.” I yell out, “Those who can fight, get ready! Those who craft potions, set up groups of them to be deployed to each of the fighters! Get the horses together to ride on Hossberg! The others of you, continue your duties, keep the economy and city running!” I command for every ear to hear. “We ride out in two hours!”

 

.

 

I look around the battered city, lagging on energy.

 

It had barely lasted the night before we took over completely. The sheer lack of defences on this city without me having to get Command to do any ordering in the King’s body was utterly deplorable. This was a city asking to be taken over. How the King had run it so egotistically when it was so weak was beyond me. The rest of the night was weeding out those who planned to attack us, on building up a new barrier like Anor’s. Anyone could leave, but none could come back in without a mage to let them in. Many families did leave, fearing magic, cursing us, but others, who’d seen other mages healing up the wounded that surrendered or looked after crying children that had been abandoned, gave in.

 

We were not cruel.

 

We were simply tired of the old ways.

 

It was the alienage elves that first came up to us, causing some humans to curse them and try to attack, but mages stepped forth in unison to calm the hoard of angry, frightened Hossberg residents. This is turn had the alienage elves whisper rumour and gossip of who to tame to completely take the city over. None of those looking to send word out for help were allowed to do so, and were given a chance to capitulate, and upon none doing so, I nod.

 

Heads _rolled_. The bodies were burnt. Wind was blasted to rid the land of the stench of roasted flesh.

 

Then the people gave in, seething, but unable to do anything but leave. They were loath to leave their home. In the one week, Hossberg was taken, controlled fully, and had begun renovations. Glyphs began to line the roads, non-fighting mages were brought in to revamp the place, and the coffers of King Wilhelm Augustin was taken to half be given as reparation, and half for the economy of Hossberg. It helped shut up the nay-sayers now they’d gotten something and knew their city wasn’t simply to be a mages playground as whispers had stated.

 

I rub a wrist over the back of my wrist to wipe away sweat and take the glass of water from Daval with a nod of thanks after we finally got the last bit of the barrier completed.

 

“Bad news. Relatives of the Augustin clan are creating unrest in Kassel. Nordbotten is becoming concerned and is sending an ambassador to determine our position on them.”

 

“Ah… fuck.”

 

Daval snorts, silver hair drifting from the high braid he has his long locks in. I admire them for a moment, making his ear-tips redden. “What?” He snaps.

 

“Your hair is a beautiful shade. When is the messenger coming?” I abruptly ask, more important items on my list than some pretty hair.

 

He clears his throat at the sudden change. “We’ve spotted him a day’s ride away.”

 

“Enough for me to have a good night’s sleep. And maybe wash if we have time.” I made my way through the city to the castle.

 

Nancy was ordering something when she saw me. She instantly joined me on my free side. “You have heard?” She asked swiftly, her usual way.

 

“Daval told me of Kassel and Nordbotten. Anything else to report?”

 

“The creation of the school for mages is underway, and blueprints for the non-magical peoples’ school is coming along.”

 

“Or we could simply use the Chantry for them, take out the religious things, move them to storage in the castle,” I say. “We need them to need our changes. This will anger them but with enticements of apprentices and sponsorship for the brightest mines to go to universities, that should calm them down. Hopefully.”

 

Daval chuckled. “It truly is just hoping this, isn’t it?”

 

“Hoping with some damn excellent plans and back-up, yes,” Nancy retorted and though I felt Daval flinch with the need to automatically fight back due to the Dalish side of him, he calmed himself. He knew what she was like and that it wasn’t an attack. “I do not know if I would agree with using the Chantry as a school. Not due to any personal beliefs – Anderfels is notorious for its love of Andraste. Our arts are mostly religious in nature, and excellent money makers. We could end up having some of the best in the city leave at the slight and thus our city weakens in wealth in the eyes of the other countries.”

 

“An excellent point,” I murmur as we go into the castle, the large doors closing behind us. “Any other ideas for the schools’ placement then?”

 

A cleaning maid looks over, having been scrubbing the floor, a fidgeting elf that stutters, “A-A school?”

 

I blink at her, cocking my head. “Yes, for non-magical people. I will not have an uneducated populace if I can help it.”

 

“Th-There’s a hall i-i-in the alienage!” She swallows hard, brown eyes darting to the ground when I step forward in interest, a humming sound coming from my throat. “I-I-I-”

 

“Lady Anor will not hurt you.” Nancy speaks, her barking voice echoing in room.

 

Daval and I give her exasperated looks as the elf cowers.

 

She clears her throat and speaks softly, “I did not _lie._ ”

 

I smile in amusement while Daval shakes his head and crosses his arms. “We know. Miss, what is your name?”

 

“Erica, Lady Anor!”

 

“Any help you can provide would be wonderful. However, I am concerned about the alienage. I do not wish there to be such monstrous things in my cities. Daval, go with Erica and see this hall, get the opinions on the elves and renovating the alienage into some of our best housing or if they’d prefer to move out into other homing and we can perhaps use it as an area of healing or education of barracks of some sort. Write the main opinions down. Erica, your people are now of mine, and your voices will be heard. Please chauffeur Daval here, and Daval, take care of Erica.”

 

The elf with the blood-work of Sylaise on his face nods respectfully to me, eyes lighting up with a new regard at my words.

 

“Nancy, come with me.”

 

We part from the two elves and go to the War Room to the side of the throne room where Elliot and Leah and a good seven others are debating something about trade in one corner and rebuilding in another. A headache throbs in my head at all the noise and I put a hand to my temple, rubbing, something Nancy take note of.

 

“Quiet!” She shouted, and the pain was worth the instant silence it garnered.

 

Leah comes over, putting a hand to my temple and soothing healing took over me. I sigh out in relief and give her a thankful smile. “You’re welcome. You’ve been working too hard, Lady Anor. The barrier is up, yes?” At my soft agreement. “You are a wonder, my dear. Currently the problem is Kassel. We believe they may be ready to bring battle upon us.”

 

“I’ve heard. Currently, we are to defend. We need to rest our warriors and offensive mages-”

 

“The only mages that have been constantly fighting and building have been yourself and the Grey Warden mages. We are ready to fight them whenever you have rested,” Leah interrupts astutely, eyes narrowed at me. “We will debate, and bring up the most favoured ideas in notes for you to read in the morn, my Lady. For now, you must rest. You are our strongest, and we need you at our best. Trust me, it’s been boring so far.” She gets some grumbles and a couple chuckles for her cheek but none outright insult her, which is a plus in my books.

 

“Bless your grouchy heart.”

 

She scoffs, bows (as do the rest, I absently note) and waves me off, getting back in on the arguing action.

 

And so, I find my given quarters and after washing (in which I grudgingly allow the maids to help me, with Nancy watching them suspiciously, ever my self-appointed bodyguard) I fall into bed.

 

.

 

Two days later (after much decision-making regarding the city) brings me to battle once more, Kassel making an attack on Hossberg to take it back.

 

With the barrier in place, and archers from the slim standing army Hossberg actually had joining with mages firing from the battalions, they barely stood a chance. They’d underestimated a smaller force that had infinitely more power than they did, and a hell of a lot more motivation to protect and preserve their land against the insult Kassel had as reason for going to war.

 

“Should we follow?” Daval asks harshly, clenching his hand around the staff as the enemy gives up the fight.

 

“Do we take over Kassel?!” I shout in reply, voice pumped with magic to echo it.

 

Roars of aggression are punctuated by the sounds of horses hooves being gathered.

 

“Shall I take that as a maybe?” Daval asks sarcastically as he follows my running form, dashing down stairs to get to our horses.

 

Nancy has ours ready, the three of us having been near on inseparable these last ten days. There’s a smirk on her face. “Ready?”

 

I jump up on the horse. “Move out!”

 

A storm of horses race along to Kassel, cutting down the fleeing soldiers with bursts of magic in all forms of elements. We stop a short amount of time away, an hours’ ride, and check the blueprints of the city a spirit of Knowledge gave us. Nodding at the entrances we’d take and the routes in the city, we make our plans. Staunchly, we face whatever awaits us in Kassel.

 

.

 

A month later, and most of Anderfels is now under our command.

 

We’re no longer secret and elves and mages of all kinds flock to our country, seeking sanctuary and a hope for a new life. The extra help from all the immigrants mean quicker buildings and changes in society, and with our food still going strong and supplying people rather than trading it outside of the boarders, we’re able to house and feed them. Leah takes on managing this, along with a slew of people she trusted to maintain this, sectioning people off by talents. If unskilled labour was at hand, most were put into building or farming while undergoing some sort of training of skills wherever the work was required in non-magical fields.

 

Not all were mages, after all, and the vast majority of people relied on the magical counterparts to keep them fed and safe from outside forces.

 

And there had been forces.

 

The Chantry of Orlais had sent out a testing battalion on Kassel that was easily repelled. Tevinter Venatori were trying to recruit mages to their cults. Qunari of the Qun were trying to enter into trades with the rather obvious mission to obtain information.

 

I shake my head, focusing on fixing up the Anderfels. It was long, often times tedious and barely thanked for work. There was so much grief against the elves being part of an equal society that we had to put extra policing in, put laws in place that made sure they were treated correctly, that people didn’t overcharge on everyday items like clothing or books. We had to set up a petty cases courts just to deal with all the grievances. Then there was hate from elves to the humans that also had to be dealt with which was just a headache and a half as well. But money going around the economy was at least something.

 

The Chantry’s in Anderfels was another large issue. They hated being made secondary, having no more influence in the laws, hated the lack of funding. I did the barest to appease them – which was only my time in reading their complaints and visiting their new quarters. Far smaller than they were used to. They also didn’t like when I told them that the vast majority of people here were mages and civilians and they needed the space more than a few sisters and brothers did. They were able to keep their ridiculously large Chantry, I’d cut through the complaining with, and upon telling them to move into their beloved Chantry if they loved it so much, walked out of their insults about me ending up in hell.

 

Or something.

 

Truthfully, I wasn’t listening.

 

I was sure Nancy would give me an earful after we left for my curt words and lack of caring, but she looked about as done as I felt when we had a whole city to run and make sure grew properly. New guard patrols and training were in place for the soldiers of Anderfels to understand how mages fought and how to work alongside them accurately and efficiently. Trade links with the dwarves were having to be dealt with, old contracts fulfilled and new ones to be put in place, and we had to make sure the Carta weren’t too unhappy either. Cheap food meant money to be spent elsewhere, which was something, as money was being put into research of hospitals and science and I considered that highly important.

 

My degree and masters could help out with ideas, though I really had to scrape my brain… until a spirit of Learning asked if I wished to be possessed so they can help. Risky, and I had them swear a magical oath to keep it to themselves. They did, and new work was emerging from Hossberg that improved healthcare in all forms; disease control, midwifery, diagnostic tools – the lot. I didn’t know much about plumbing, but I’d gotten Elliot to get me people in to design septic tanks and toilets, again blessing Learning for taking anything I’d ever seen from my old life in to help me with this one. The spirit became close with me, always by my side in a magic barrier.

 

That toilet stuff was out of my hands as Elliot took it on, eyes lighting up at the challenge, making sure to get the patents for it and the dwarves involved with its’ crafting to be silenced about how it was done. Glyphs were involved anyway, so even if they did, it would be hard to recreate the specialised formations.

 

Things were rocky socially, but as a country, they were improving in bounds and leaps. It just needed to be worked on.

 

Another three months later, and the Breach is sealed up.

 

I widened my eyes in alarm.

 

“Raul…?” I say to myself, rubbing dried ink off my fingers of a new law I’d signed as I gawk out the window.

 

Daval was with me, also gaping at it. “Is it closed?”

 

“I think so?” I get up, striding over to the window to get a proper look. Everyone else in the city had stopped as well before cheers broke out in the city. “The people rejoice.”

 

The silver haired elf breathed out, relieved. “I was so worried we’d have to send our people out if it got worse. We’ve only just settled the lands from rioting.”

 

“We should check, just in case.” I say. “Nancy, you lead the Grey Warden faction-”

 

“We’re coming with you,” The woman demands, throwing me a glower. “A small group can slip past any enemies more safely.”

 

I huff through my nose, amused. “Of course you are. Let’s finish up this week, send out messages to the other cities of my whereabouts.”

 

“Yes, my Lady.”

 

.

 

It’s at the end of the week that I’m told Haven is _crushed_  beyond all recreating and my heart snags in my throat.

 

“ _Raul._ ”

 

I slump in my chair at my desk, trying not to cry at the loss of him.

 

I fail.

 

* * *

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anderfels is taken. What's next?


	3. Skyhold and Speccing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Perhaps a map of Thedas on a tab on hand may be useful to read this fic?

* * *

 

 

* * *

 

 

I hear about Skyhold.

 

Nancy and Daval are already prepared with a huge retinue of builders and mages and goods.

 

They smirk at me as I stare at the two hundred strong crew and dozens of carts.

 

“Lady Anor, your horse awaits.”

 

.

 

The gates of Skyhold open to us, with myself and my faithful duo leading the way.

 

Raul is there, golden hair glinting as him and others spill into the courtyard to greet us. “Beatrice!”

 

Emotion takes me as I jump off the horse and we collided in a humungous hug and frantic demands to know if the other was alright, only to bitch that each had gone through something worse while others began to form a circle around us completely amused by our idiotic caring. We each ignored the fact tears were in our eyes as we shouted at one another in angry relief.

 

Nancy whistled, sharp and making us wince. “You both are right, now shut up!”

 

We glower at her but desist.

 

Josephine steps forward to us, trying to hide a smile. “Welcome to Skyhold, Lady Anor! Ah, might I ask, is this your title? Your deeds bring you other names and I wish only to give full respect to you.”

 

“Lady Anor is fine for formalities sake.”

 

Daval snorted. “Let’s get it straight Ambassador, she’s the Empress of Anderfels, ruler of numerous magical cities and here to gift help in rebuilding this mess of a fortress.”

 

Nancy nodded. “Agreed. You definitely need it, Inquisition.”

 

I look heavenward in help. “Ambassador Josephine, if you could suggest any as qualified as you to be my diplomatic advisor and ambassador, I’d be _much_ obliged. Clearly my closest can speak only with the force of a _blunt club_ ,” I snark but they simply smirk at me as the woman smiles at me enigmatically, but there’s delight in her eyes at our byplay. “Regardless of direct hits, yes, my people have volunteered to come here, to help in all ways to set your fortress up, and bring preserved food.”

 

Raul puts his hands on my shoulders. “Thank you, Lady Anor. This is…”

 

I smile at him warmly, clutching his wrists. “Raul, you are my best friend, and you are Anor’Tuasha. Even if you have a new duty in life, you have a home.”

 

His fingers tightened on me, grateful.

 

A nod, and I turn away to my people. “Let’s get the carriages unloaded! Julio, take control and speak with whoever’s in charge of goods here!” I command and the dwarf does so, barking his own orders. The Commander of the forces of the Inquisition hops onto it, sending a bow my way before he does so.

 

Josephine comes forth. “I shall get the servants to clean up a tower for your people.”

 

“My thanks to you,” I nod.

 

“Let’s go to the War Room,” Raul says to me and I turn to him. “We can tell each other what the hell happened.”

 

Moments later and a large group of us are in the room, inclusive of faces I do know. Seemed like this was his Inner Circle of members that helped him out on the field. Quite the group. I was wary of the qunari of course, and disdainful to see Vivienne there, getting wind of Raul obtaining a woman that was pro-Circle. I wondered of that, but trusted he had a handle on that situation. There was a Red Jenny, clear by her neckerchief. The Tevinter Dorian, Magister or Altus, I was still unsure. I’d met Solas and Varric and Cassandra. Nancy stiffened at the sight of a Grey Warden, which brought problems about I silently noted. I was curious about the lad in the unusual hat that drooped over his face, wondering what it was I was sensing from him.

 

He tilted his head at my curiosity of him. “I am Compassion. My name is Cole.”

 

“I am Beatrice. You are… fleshy,” I end, a bit baffled by that.

 

He laughs breathlessly. “I am. You are friends with spirits. They keep the demons away.”

 

I nod. “An easy, neat little system that has none of my mages possessed negatively, yes.”

 

“There isn’t a positive, not when dabbling with demons,” The Orlesian mage opines.

 

“You are small-minded to think as such,” I state bluntly, uncaring of her fluffing up about that. “We trust our spirits companions, and those who roam near our lands in the Fade are our people as well and are a part of our society, even if a hidden part.”

 

“You consort with spirits?” The Commander questioned, frowning heavily.

 

I narrow my eyes, having felt the traces of lyrium in him. “You’re a templar, I see.”

 

Cole hums. “They really like you, over there. You give them what they need, and they give you protection. I want to see it. Your people pine for you,” He speaks, gentle, appearing by my side like any spirit would. He puts his forehead to my shoulder. “Both sides of the Fade do.”

 

I already miss home, putting a hand to his cheek. “Thank you for telling me, Cole.”

 

“So you truly took over the Anderfels?” Raul asked, eyes wide, leaning on the table. “Our home, it is safe?”

 

Daval snorts at the question, making me smirk a little at his offence. “There’s no way of breaking the defences without mages on the outside outnumbering the inside. But our mage forces number in the thousands now and train every day in ways no other can grant them. It is safe. If our people do pine, it’s because half of them seem not to find their own asses without help from our Lady Anor.”

 

Nancy nodded. “My Lady is much required.”

 

“They’re not that bad,” I sigh at them. “We’re here to offer help of rebuilding that we’ve become so good at over these months after annexing broken cities into our control, and for us three to offer help on the field until the fortress is running smoothly. Then I must leave back to Hossberg. Unfortunately, countries don’t run themselves.”

 

“Thank you for the help, sister,” Raul smiles at me lightly. “Honestly though,” He began, shit-stirring. “You think we can’t do it ourselves?”

 

“Led by you? Please, you’re one of the ones that can’t find their own ass without my help,” I grin at him, words teasing, “Don’t know how these lot deal with you.”

 

Raul barks a laugh. “Stabbing as always.”

 

“Of course. Anyway, it’s not a lack of belief in your Inquisition. You’re _here_ , aren’t you, isamalin?” I lifted my chin up, proud of him. “Always were a scrapper. Known it since our Circle days. You’re Anor’Tuasha and I give a shit about your survival. I thought your stupid self was dead so naturally I come to find out for myself.”

 

The Inquisitor swallowed, needing this.

 

Nancy said succinctly, “We get in, we help our kin, we get out.”

 

I point a thumb at her. “Exactly that. I want to know what the hell happened to Haven, and about rumours of some old Tevinter?” I get the low down, though I know some things are kept out for the Inquisition’s own protection. “Corypheus, hm? Huh. Funny, it doesn’t sound like a Tevinter name from that period. Close but…” I frown at that.

 

Dorian jumped on that. “My thoughts exactly! It must be a title, or a self-given name. If we perhaps could trace it back then we may have some clues as to his background?”

 

“The Fade may hold something,” I mention, and Daval nods, along with Solas and Dorian. “Raul-”

 

“You want to stay here and figure that out instead of joining me on the field. Sounds good to me. Solas, Dorian, I’m docking you with My Lady Anor to sort this problem out as I deal with rifts. Do as she wishes,” Raul commands and gets agreements. Their next plans are discussed for the Hinterlands and then he calls a break. “Alright, dismissed for now people. Beatrice, up for a drink?” He asks, hopeful.

 

“You just want to know if I brought you Hirol’s Lava Burst.” I pause, making him hopeful. “I did.”

 

“Yes!” He cheers, fist pumping.

 

“And for making me think you died, I’m going to drink it in front of you,” I remark, turning my back on him to walk out.

 

“W-Wait! Have pity on a dead man!”

 

“Dead men have no right to complain, brother dearest!” I call back with a scoff, my two closest at my back as Raul joins me.

 

.

 

It’s when I get him slightly drunk and greatly relaxed I ask, “What will you do after Corypheus?”

 

“Go back to you, duh.”

 

I snort, looking out the splendid view over the balcony. “Not what I meant.”

 

“I know.” Raul’s voice was small.

 

Turning to him with a frown, I ask softly, “What do you want from it?”

 

“You’ll either love this or hate this.”

 

“Oh gods, go on.”

 

“I was thinking of putting it into the Empire.”

 

“Say again,” I wonder in disbelief.

 

“They’re my people, you know? But I cannot give up Anor’Tuasha. Not for anything. Not when it means everything to me. So, I humbly request, when this is done, to have this area join with the Empire of Anderfels. Make me Regent or whatever over here. I’ll run it for you, make sure it’s your level of satisfaction for a small city, make sure all the trades are profitable for _us_ -” He began to babble. “The old Inquisition made that Seeker division, right?”

 

“Raul. Are you sure? You realise that… That you down here will be under attack? The one single city against the growing and terrifying might of the Anderfels? They will think you being of the Chantry, an easy way in. Or that if you denounce the Chantry that, that, you’ll be, I don’t know some army that could attack them at any time. I’m already in talks with Orlais over the Western Approach. They don’t want me to have it, but cannot stop us if they want trade to continue. Which I will also station as my own, as well as the Arbor Wilds and the Dales. Don’t let him know just yet, but I intend for Daval to be, well, the equivalent of you down there. I know elves won’t be too keen on humans, and I’m hoping to make it more elf centric.”

 

“Elf centric?”

 

“Let’s be real, the humans and elves won’t get along as amazingly as us for decades. One of the main barriers is the Chantry, which is both against mages and elves. I’m already distilling that section out of my towns, using the Anderfels being known as utmost religious against itself.”

 

Raul frowned and then said, enlightened, “The artwork.”

 

“Yes. Great money maker. I’ve chopped the prices, but the money coming in from the orders is still immense.”

 

“But you can create gold?”

 

“And ruin the economy?” I reply, shaking my head. “Also it controls the others. They have less, we have more. They have demands and needs, and we have supply. We control the supply, we control them. It will be different when we become the biggest. I intend for us to control the west and south, to have magic be the norm, to have peoples be equal. That is my dream for the years of my life I have. Raul, all I have told you is private Anderfels business. Will you keep it secret?” I hold my hand out, glowing with promise.

 

Raul takes it and shakes, the deal made. “I would not let you down, asamalin.” _Sister._

 

.

 

“We’re still working on making magic widely available to the cities.”

 

Raul ran a hand through his shining gold locks.

 

“Available?” Dorian asks, intrigued, as he arrived with Solas to Raul’s rooms.

 

“Yes. You’ve seen our city in dreams.” I nod, arms crossed. “My barrier mixing with the most glyphs I’ve ever seen allows magic to siphon into our cities.”

 

“Siphon?” The Tevinter asks.

 

I tilt my head. “Imagine the Fade and the waking world mixing. That is what it’s like in my cities. No having to bypass the Veil. It’s… certainly not perfect, I’ll be the first to admit that. It’s a lesser form of the actual Fade mixing with the Waking World, but it still holds. People can far more easily do magic there, and the better of us can do more complex magic to help our Empire. It’s not strong enough for spirits to stay any longer than a few hours but, my people are happy with that, on both sides. Thankfully the waking world inhabitants have become greatly fascinated by spirits.”

 

“You’ve been able to combine them?” Solas asks, almost reverently.

 

“Myself and my research teams, yes.”

 

“But that could break the Veil!” Dorian exclaimed, worried. “The flood of magic, the amount of demons-”

 

“Is lessened, actually,” I remark, surprised by it myself. “The magic has a place to exit, making the Fade less concentrated, easier to traverse for dreamers in our lands. The more spirits coming here means less fear, less fear means less demons being created and also more demons having less power. To be frightfully honest, I’m doing the world a massive favour. Will the Veil eventually turn brittle? Yes. Hopefully by then, that will not be so damaging.” I put my hands behind me, looking at the two. Dorian was fascinated, the way one would be at a train accident, unable to rip his eyes away, and Solas was intense, focused.

 

…Hopeful?

 

Raul on the other hand was utterly pleased. “Yes, we need to have control of the supply of magic to make sure the world and its’ inhabitants are unnecessarily harmed. Perhaps this can help?” He held his hand out.

 

“It’d have to be studied greatly. Raul, if you’re amenable-”

 

“You are my Lady Anor.”

 

I ducked my head with a chuckle before lifting it up again. “Then after this, we will return to Anor and begin to research it. Leah is still around and kicking, she’ll be all over this.”

 

“That old hag? Damn.”

 

“She’s one of my best councillors now, loves bossing us all around.”

 

He smirked at me. “Still grouchy and talking shit?”

 

“Oh, like she’d ever change,” I scoff, making Raul laugh brightly, slinging an arm around my shoulders. I turn to the other two with my own half-smirk. “She outright says they’re chatting bullshit to their faces and none of them want to smack an old woman, so they grudgingly listen. It’s great.”

 

“She misses you.”

 

I turn at Cole, a little frown of worry on my face. “Is she well?”

 

“Yes, but she knows she doesn’t have long.”

 

Raul and I wilt at that, looking at each other morosely. “It’s… to be expected,” I mutter to my brother, getting a squeeze in return.

 

“Leah is very happy to have found you. You have made her twilight years the best she’s had in her whole life.” I smile at that, looking at him, letting my emotion flood me, utterly grateful for him, and he shyly puts a hand to his face, giggling and feeling silly. “You can do it. But there are those in the Fade, locked away. If you release the Veil, you release them. They are not kind. They are angry. They want to hurt. You will need much more magic to stop them. Please stop them. For us all.”

 

At that ominous message he goes.

 

Trickles of fear puncture down my spine. “Them? Locked away?” I snap, alarm in my tone. “Who the fuck could it be?” I begin to pace. I look at the elves, who both have odd looks on their faces. “Gentlemen?”

 

“There are tales from the Dalish about the gods, locked away by another god,” Solas mentions slowly.

 

A moment of disbelief hits me. “Gods? No. No such things exist.”

 

Right?

 

But then how am I here? Cosmic fuckery?

 

“Well, you exist.” Raul pointed out, and then flushed at my jaw-dropped look. “I mean to say, you do incredible things no one else has ever seem to have dreamt of. Maybe others have from long ago. You know, like the ancient elves?”

 

A more believable explanation. A thoughtful look crosses my face. “So, someone with talent. Multiples. And some half-decent person putting them away.”

 

Raul nods, continuing with, “And Asha’bellanar is said to still roam the lands. Mythal.”

 

“Then, we’d have to find her, see if we can get some answers.”

 

Dorian finally exploded with an, “If any of this exists, you mean!”

 

“Spirits don’t just make this sort of thing up. They’re predictable like that,” I say, with Solas nodding in agreement. “And I’d much rather put up plans than do nothing. If some nut jobs from the past want to take my home from me, I’m not about to open the door and let them use me as a doormat to wipe their feet on and certainly not to harm my people.”

 

“Will you put defences up here?” Raul asks, desperate, but sees me purse my lips. “I’ll sign it over to the Anderfels Empire. Dorian!” He barks, making the human jolt. “Get Josephine, now!”

 

I warn as a frowning Dorian goes, “You will have quite the few against you, Raul.”

 

Solas steps forth. “I would speak with you both about the others in the Fade. After this.”

 

“And your thoughts on this?” Raul inquires, wondering what he’d say.

 

“I believe you both aim for protection and magic. With Raul already stating his loyalty to you, that it would be a matter of time to see it taken into the Empire of Anderfels. Not quite so soon, however. Though understandable.”

 

I tilt my head. “Will you be one of mine?” I ask. “One of my people? Your ability at dreams would greatly help us.”

 

Solas pauses at that, looking at us firmly. “You aim to bring the Veil down and take down the gods?” At our nod, he pauses. A sort of sorrow passes him and then he nods. “I will be yours.”

 

I’d watch out for him.

 

Both for and against him.

 

Josephine comes up, mountains of paperwork in hand, and I push the thought of the talented elf out of my head.

 

I had a new fortress to rework in the image of our people, a relieved Josephine, scowling Leliana and Cullen and staunch Raul over my shoulders. I set up new apprenticeship schemes, new schooling for the people to read and gain basics in mathematics. I would have a small contingent set this up for me. The healthcare here would be revolutionised, but only by a bit – I would not have those secrets let out just yet. I scribble plans away, giving them over to Josephine to look over and to put into place. Orders of better farming equipment would come down from the new city in the top of the Western Approach.

 

Nancy, who’d somehow appeared there, took the orders. “I’ll send them off. I will take a contingency of our people and get supplies?”

 

“Yes, get one of the lookouts to delegate with Ferelden on the payment of this land. Subplot duration,” I command. It was a group of orders I wanted done when it came to alliances or dealings with Ferelden. They were one of the furthest and so food was a big contender here. If we could set up farming lands down here, it’d be much easier to tempt them, or to ignite rioting when we let out how they refused more food into the battered Ferelden, still trying to get back onto its’ feet after the Fifth Blight. And as soon as they got that food, there’d be a dependency and when that ran out, there would be demand for us.

 

We just had to somehow take out the thought of the Chantry in people’s head being the above all end all of things and make that magic instead.

 

Nancy bowed to me and left swiftly, knowing time was of the essence.

 

It was a good two hours later I rose from the table, fingers aching, Solas kindly taking my hand and healing it for me. I squeeze back, putting my other hand over his, giving him a warm look of thanks that had him peering back at me, a little surprised. Giving him a curious look, I let go as he shakes his head at me and then turn to the others. “It should be two weeks until the farming supplies come in, and Nancy should also be back with Ferelden signing over this land down south to us.” I inform the group, Raul by my side. “During this, our people should have the place fixed up, its warding defences up, and I shall also implement my own brand of defence. We will have as much safety here as we do in the other cities.”

 

Cullen asked strongly, “And of the soldiers?”

 

“You will remain teaching them of course. None of your aims have changed. Only in who your aims work for. The people need a standing army. All my cities have that. Magic is, ironically, used in the way the Chantry speaks of, _for_ the people. We use it in our farming, feeding us. In our defences, protecting us. In our arts, giving us culture and beauty. But at the heart of it is the people, and the connections we form, regardless of origins,” I say from the heart, believing every word, looking to Raul. “It is Raul that will be Regent here. Your Inquisitor. It is he the people of Skyhold believe in. There is _no one_ else I’d trust with this situation.” My magic beats a hard rhythm in me. “No one else I’d be this stupid enough to do this for.”

 

Raul swallowed and nodded. “We will not fail you.”

 

“You won’t. They won’t fail _you._ ” I reply, smile lifting my lips. “You are _worthy_ of following.” I raise a hand to Josephine, grasping paperwork and she follows me.

 

The blonde elf steps forth. “Empress-”

 

I turn to him. “Regent Inquisitor?”

 

He closes his mouth, understanding between us, and his own wobbly smile lights upon his lips, chin tilting up. “Nothing.”

 

I wink at him. “As you were, isamalin.”

 

A bow and, “Asamalin,” and we part, Josephine and Solas following me. I swallow, feeling a tear roll down my face. I lift a hand to try and hide it.

 

“Your Majesty?” Josephine asks, concerned, bringing out a handkerchief.

 

“Aha…” I feel foolish, ducking my head as I take it. “I’m unbelievably _proud_ of him, and so happy he’s alive. I’m a little overcome. So stupid.” I laugh, dabbing my face. To my surprise, both of my shoulders are taken by hands, and I look at each of them, eyes wide.

 

“I wondered why Raul was so insistent on following you,” Josephine went first. “I understand now. You bring education, prosperity and equality to all.”

 

Solas added on, “You have also done beyond what many have dared to dream of. I do not know about the rest of the Inquisition, but I would seek to protect that which already stands, those ideals, and you.”

 

“I hope you know I do not intend to take over the world. But I do intend for those ideals to be spread across it, for the people to demand it,” I remark softly. “I can only believe in you two and all the rest propagating that. People deserve better, and I think I can give them that. Come on, let’s get our people started.”

 

.

 

The next two weeks, I worked my arse off, building supplies, helping my group of rebuilding specialists to work with the glyphs already there in the defences of Skyhold to synergize them, and helping to form the new lands and prepping them for farming. My magic ran out daily, getting me close to illness each time, but I snoozed hard, took health potions, and was back up the next day, not exactly fine and dandy, but raring to go once more.

 

Solas oddly took a more mentor like approach to me, chastising me for doing this, but when I retorted with a, _how else do you think I’ve done this so swiftly? As if Empire’s can be done so carefully in so short a time?_ I simply got a look and a sigh, acknowledging it. Still, he kept near, watchful, vigilant, taking extra interest whenever I brought him in to help with Veil work. Ways on going past it, using it without breaking it, whatever else my researchers brought up and we all talked about. His hands found their way to me when next to me, as if unable to believe I was doing this, that I was here. Simple touches, like that to the shoulder or the forearm. I had to wonder at the guy, making sure to be wary around him, even as I leant into his touches.

 

I needed his trust.

 

I felt I needed it for some reason.

 

Spirits even guided me to him, ones close and far away.

 

_Trust the wolf and the pride, trust the trickster and the rebel._

 

So I did.

 

Doom me, but I did.

 

I woke up, dazed, sitting up and staring at the stone wall.

 

Blearily, I blink, shifting to the edge and get up. Nancy tuts at me and shoves me to the wash tub, getting my clothes ready as I bathe. A flare of heat and I’m dry, taking the clothes as she goes about sorting my day for me. I’m so useless in the morning, especially when I’m recovering from core drainage. Excellent in the evening though. I look around as she does my hair and then pick up the work before me, mind settling back into work mode. My stomach growls, but Daval sets down one of the plates on the tray before me. Smiling up at him, I eat.

 

Daval huffs. “You have to stops this draining. It’s screwing with your mind. There’s no rush.”

 

“There’s always a rush.” I eat then, quick, making them frown. “What’s on the do list?”

 

“The defences are done. The school is set up. Apprenticeships are in place and working.” Daval lists off.

 

“As are farming lands. If kept to it, the Inquisition is set up.” Nancy is done with my hair, in braids and bun and out of my way, putting a little tiara on my head to signify my standing.

 

I ignore the jewellery she slinks onto my fingers and neck for some reason today and nod at the two, eating my porridge.

 

“What now?” I muse, then eat a piece of apple.

 

“Perhaps it is time to return to Anor’Tuasha?” Nancy states.

 

I think about it. Was there anything left here to do? We’d already instituted our own spies here, as this was an outlier city. I did not trust that spymaster and would not bring along any of her scouts. Nor that pernicious pro-circle mage that looked out for herself first. She’d tried to butter me up multiple times this past fortnight, arching for a position as advisor or fashion expert or something. Oddly, I did truly like her despite her thoughts on spirits and Circles. Perhaps that’s what’s got her so far. “Yes. I believe we shall.”

 

Daval handed me a note.

 

Reading it, I suck in a breath.

 

_Gaspard is planning to attack._

 

Closing my eyes, I breathed out.

 

Now to worry if other nations would attack as well.

 

.

 

 

Raul gawped at me. “Already?! You’ve barely rested-”

 

“Ah, when am I allowed to rest? Too much to do.” I wave off, in the War Room with him and the Advisors and the mages.

 

Most of the others stayed away from me, working for but not part of The Empire of Anderfels. Dorian had privately asked to be a resident of Hossberg. Vivienne would stay here, where nobles came from all over, and I would have her here, working for Raul and part of mine. Mainly because her ideals differed and that difference could bring new views when melded with Raul’s. She wanted better for mages. I gave her that much.

 

Vivienne spoke up, “It is quite fast, Your Majesty. Surely more time with the nobles could serve a purpose?”

 

“Agreed, but I cannot leave my other cities under attack to appease people who bring me little in return for my time. Gaspard de Chalons is on route to Weisshaupt. Though what the hell Nevarra is doing to allow such an army to tramp all over the Blasted Hills is beyond me. Excellent farming land there,” I add on idly, looking at the map, ignoring the points on there. I had several out posts in the Hunterhorn Mountains, between Nordbotten and The Tirashan, where right now my people were marking out a new city in that Forest. It belonged to no one, considered wild and dangerous, and so I’d taken it. Rarer herbs were found a plenty there, and we could certainly use it for research purposes.

 

“They have an agreement to pass through each other’s lands from the Storm Age,” Dorian spoke up, with Vivienne nodding, looking like she wanted to say it first.

 

Cullen went on, “It does also present the fact the army is leaving The Exalted Plains, leaving it open to claiming under Inquisition banner.”

 

I peer up at him, eyebrow raised.

 

Flustered, he went on, “Empire of Anderfels, that is!”

 

Nodding, I look back down.

 

“No, Inquisition is correct.”

 

I snap my eyes up to the spymaster. “It’s been signed over, spymaster. Do keep up. Your Chantry blinds you. It would bind you if it had the chance. But I suppose you’ve already opened yourself up for that.”

 

Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “My faith is not to be tested.”

 

“Indoctrinated to the end. My, but you also believed you heard the sound of the _Maker_ , didn’t you?” I watched her with eagle eyes, spirits whispering in my ears of information about her. “Funny, I thought you _used_ the Chantry to hide from Marjolaine.” I cock my head ever so slowly, seeing her freeze. “I suppose you just clutch on to anyone who picks you up, don’t you,” I whip out, then remark in a silkier, sweeter voice, “Better it be to a formless story than an actual person, hm? Even now you cling to information from afar, spymaster. Stay in your lane, Leliana Vasseur of Oisine.”

 

Leliana sneered a hole through me. “I will not be controlled by you! It does not matter if you know my past.”

 

“Control you? The Chantry does that well enough, my dear bard,” I reply as if bored, letting a barrier under my skin just in case she attacked. “I just need to know the Chantry’s ethics to know you. Both as violent and underhanded as the other. Don’t take that as a bad thing, both of you can be utilised in the right place and time.” Let her think I’d be using the Chantry, I’ve land to settle and ideas to push into the other societies at higher rates. But if not her Chantry, how about, “The Warden Hero _is_ a lovely woman, isn’t she?”

 

Already worked up, she demanded to know, “What have you done to her?!”

 

“Done? Ah, Leli, she works for me in Weisshaupt! Why would I do anything to her? The Grey Wardens love the Empire. Why would I do anything to their favoured hero, Leliana?” I smile beatifically. “You’d really work against the woman you love and _her_ ideals just because you don’t like me?” I let that settle in for a moment. “Now, the banner of Anderfels will fly,” I tell Cullen as Leliana stews, hating her own weaknesses being so used against her. And in public, too. I’d have to be kinder to them soon after that. It’d leave a lasting effect.

 

But this was necessary.

 

She’d focus on me, using her scouts to keep an eye on me while my other scouts and spies worked elsewhere. Not to mention she could unveil problems from dissidents to throw in my face, all to be used. I would use anything and everything, even at my own expense of pride. There was the potential for her helping the enemy. That would have to be watched. But it could be used somehow. Giving incorrect information to her to confuse the enemy for one.

 

Everything can be used.

 

Raul touched my back. “We know what’s what. Now…”

 

Nancy and Daval simply watched it all, remaining strong by my side.

 

I would have to give them passwords and signs to use so we knew the other was who they were, that what they signed was _actually_ us and not some imposter.

 

* * *

 

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thank you guys for all the lovely comments and the bookmarks and kudos, like, heck, I'm super glad you enjoy world-building like I do enjoy to give such feedback!
> 
> (also will be finding a new one-shot i wrote for snaps of the fangs in the next few days so plz enjoy that too)


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